St. Vincent – St. Vincent
On a roll from two previous albums that already garnered rave reviews (2011’s Strange Mercy and her 2012 collaboration with David Byrne, Love This Giant) Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, now returns with what is undoubtedly her best effort yet. This is confident, ambitious work, drawing the listener in with a distinct blend of what one could almost describe as ‘prog pop.’ Clark’s considerable guitar skills play a prominent role...
Regina Spektor – What We Saw From The Cheap Seats
I’ve always thought that those detractors quick to dismiss Regina Spektor’s career with words like ‘quirky’, ‘oddball’ or ‘sentimental’ were missing out on a unique talent with incredible piano and songwriting skills and a sad-sweet voice to match. Sure, there are moments when whimsy or sentimentality may arguably have led Spektor a step too far into eccentric or syrupy territory, but she finds success more often than not. What We Saw...
The Cranberries – Wake Up and Smell The Coffee
Back from an even longer break are The Cranberries, as it has been over ten years since their last studio album, Wake Up And Smell The Coffee. Dolores O’Riordan’s extraordinary voice never quite managed to claim the successful solo career it deserved through the two albums she recorded during the band’s interim hiatus, but with her old partners back in tow they’ve reunited to create one of the strongest album releases of 2012 to date....
Garbage – Not Your Kind Of People
Yet another band back from a long hiatus and also recording independently from a major label, Garbage return after six years with Not Your Kind Of People. The album is a genuinely successful combination of the ‘dark pop meets garage’ that clearly defined their earlier work but was perhaps not as pronounced on Beautiful Garbage and Bleed Like Me. The electronica has been toned down a touch here, but not so much that you can’t hear...
The Hives – Lex Hives
After five years The Hives are back with their fifth full-length album, this time released on their own Disques Hives imprint. If you’re familiar with the Swedes’ stomping, energetic sound spearheaded by Pelle Almqvist’s charged yelps and howls then you won’t be left disappointed. To be fair, few fans of The Hives would ask the band for a reinvention anyway, and charged tunes like the two-word-only track ‘Come On’, 60’s-themed...
Steel Panther – Balls Out
Back with their second album under the name of ‘Steel Panther’, the L.A quartet divide time between parody of 80’s glam rock and out-and-out tribute. What could tire quickly as a one-trick gag in the vein of Spinal Tap or those spectacular Australian parody-rockers Bigphallica actually works here because, thankfully, the band possess the musicianship to back it up. These are frenetic, high-energy rock songs with gratuitously...
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